Fun & Interesting Facts About Orangutans

Orangutans are one of nature’s most humble creatures. They are gentle and fun loving and overly witty when it comes to playing. However, they can be dangerous if you get to close so always be careful. Here, are some of the best fun and interesting facts about Orangutans

1. Orangutans are primarily forest dwellers. They are one of the largest of the monkey family and one of the only few that are not found in Africa.

2. Orangutans love to live in the high trees swinging from branch to branch. They will rarely come down from the treetops. They prefer to live out their whole lives above the ground. The females are more likely to high in the tree canopies in the trees. Where the males will come down more often to sleep and forage for food on the ground.

3. Orangutans are Diurnal animals , and they are very active during the day. Then before nighttime they will make a hammock out of leaves to sleep in high in the trees.

4. Orangutans are quite large creatures the females can weigh anywhere from 40-60 kgs and measure over 2 meters. The males can weigh in at 50- 100 kgs and are much taller than the females and can measure from 1.5 to over 2 meters in height.

5. The male and female Orangutans are usually solitary animals. Only getting together to mate and defend their territory. The females will often create small knit groups to defend the young that is born during the spring.

6. Orangutans can live a very long time and generally live up to 50 years.

7. Males reach sexual maturity at around 15 years old. However, they may not be fully ready until around 20 years.

8. The females generally reach maturity at 12 years. They then reach full maturity at around 20 years along with the males.

9. Orangutans will only carry one child at a time because they give live births. They will occasionally have twins , but it is very rare.

10. The average gestation period for an Orangutan is around 10 months. Or roughly 260 days.

11. One of the things that make Orangutan special is that they will only produce three or four offspring max in their lifetime.

12. The young will generally be weaned from the mother in about four years of age and become self sufficient at 6-7 years of age.